MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP OF SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. 
185 
were done in large municipal abbatoirs meat would be more ex¬ 
pensive and, therefore, more difficult for the poor man to ob¬ 
tain. As to the first objection, it may be said that every ad¬ 
vance interferes with earlier arrangements and upsets pre-exist¬ 
ing conditions. The stage-coach proprietor and the canal boat¬ 
man objected to the building of railroads. All labor-saving 
machinery has been objected to by the people that it has dis¬ 
placed, but reforms that improve general conditions and are 
good for the public, cannot be permanently halted by the inter¬ 
ests of individuals, and history shows that, in the end, the suf¬ 
fering that was prophesied from these changes has not come to 
pass. But many proprietors of slaughter-houses have at this 
time large interests and vested rights, that must be respected. 
If the city of Philadelphia shall ever wish to establish a munici¬ 
pal abbatoir it will not be necessary for all butchers to move 
into this establishment at once. Those who maintain their pri¬ 
vate plants in conformity with certain regulations, may be per¬ 
mitted to continue them for a stated period, while the smaller, 
filthier concerns that cannot be improved and are nuisances, 
should be forced to discontinue as isolated establishments and 
go into the large slaughter-house belonging to the city. For 
the conveniences provided, a reasonable rental should be 
charged, and those who thus purchase the right to use the -fa¬ 
cilities of the municipal slaughter-house would be able to carry 
on their business under the best conditions ; conditions that it 
would be absolutely impossible for most of them to provide at 
their own expense. They would be enabled to do their work 
in a proper, cleanly way ; they would have the advantage of 
cold storage facilities to a degree that the individual could not 
have; they could dispose of their condemned organs and car¬ 
casses to better advantage than now ; they would have the ad¬ 
vantage of easy access to the stock yards and would thus avoid 
the necessity of driving cattle through the streets, a practice 
that blocks traffic, frightens people and at times occasions seri¬ 
ous accidents. 
I believe that if all the meat killed in Philadelphia were pre- 
